Despite the importance of motivation as a determinant of alcohol use and of recovery from alcohol problems, alcoholics and other problem drinkers are by no means a homogeneous group with respect to their motivations for drinking. They drink in an attempt to satisfy a variety of needs in various life to their motivations for drinking. They drink in an attempt to satisfy a variety of needs in various life circumstances. Alcoholics decisions about drinking, therefore, must be understood in terms of their total motivational nexus and their various competing incentives with whose attainment continued drinking is incompatible. Our motivational model of alcohol use (Cox & Klinger, 1988) takes into account the various factors that have been shown to affect drinking and shows how these factors are interrelated. The motivational model will serve as the theoretical framework for the proposed investigation. The intent of the present proposal is to identify different motivational patterns among alcoholics that will help to elucidate their motivations for drinking. In order to do so, we will use our Motivational Structure Questionnaire (MSQ), whose reliability and validity we have already established. From the MSQ, we will first develop a taxonomy for classifying alcoholics according to their motivational patterns. Next, we will determine the concurrent validity of the motivational types, by identifying the manner in which they are related to patients demographic characteristics, pretreatment drinking behavior, cognitive functioning, and personality characteristics. Finally, we will assess the predictive validity of the motivational types in terms of their posttreatment functioning--both their drinking behavior and their achievement of life satisfaction through healthy nonchemical goals and incentives. The proposed research has future practical implications for anticipating various alcoholic patient's therapeutic needs and for matching particular motivational types of patients with their most effective treatment modality. For instance, in separate project, we are developing a counseling technique for helping alcoholics to form motivational patterns that are consistent with a satisfying nonalcoholic lifestyle. The motivational types that we identify through the proposed research will allow us later to determine for which patients our motivational counseling technique is effective and for which patients other treatment techniques are the most appropriate intervention.